LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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1850 1915 

ORATION 



OF 



JOHN J. LERMEN 




CALIFORNIA'S ADMISSION DAY 
SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1915 



PANAMA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL 
EXPOSITION :: SAN FRANCISCO 



1850 1915 

ORATION 



OF 



JOHN J. LERMEN 

Past President Society of California Pioneers 



CALIFORNIA'S ADMISSION DAY 

September 9th, 1915 



COURT OF THE UNIVERSE 

Panama-Pacific International Exposition 
San Francisco, California 



OBSERVED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 

The Society of California Pioneers 

The Woman's Auxiliary of the Society of California Pioneers 

The Daughters of California Pioneers 

The Association of Pioneer Women of California 

The Native Daughters of the Golden West 

The Native Sons of the Golden West 



California's Admission Day, September 9lh, 1915 
'■' ' 

Address of John j. Lermen, Orator of the D ay 
Court of Universe. Panama-Pacific International Exposition 



LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: 

Today a descendant of a Pioneer appears before you to 
address you on behalf of the Pioneers of '49. That 
fact, of itself, signifies that that great army of men who 
came to California in 1849 is now almost all but a 
memory. It is with a feeling of much diffidence that I, 
of the second generation, undertake even approximately 
to do justice to the memory of the men and women who 
have becueathed to us a heritage of gigantic achievement, 
unmarred by any act, ignoble or unpatriotic. 

It is an easy thing to enthuse over the deeds of our 
pioneers, as in loving memory and proud contemplation 
we think of the situation that confronted them in the 
days of '49, the manner in which they met it, the order 
that they drew out of chaos, and the society that they 
builded, rough hewn though for a time it might have 
been. It was a man's work that the Pioneers of 
*49 found laid out for them when they came here, and 
that work was performed by manly men in a manly way. 

It was on the 24th day of January, 1 848, that James W. 
Marshall, at Sutter's Mill, at Coloma, discovered that 
small nugget of gold that brought the first general recogni- 
tion from the world that here, in California, was to be 
found a true EI Dorado. Within a few years Marshall's 
nugget, worth in itself the paltry sum of fifty cents, when 
measured by the gold unearthed from the hiding places 
revealed by its discovery, has increased in value to over 
a thousand millions of dollars. The wodd's supply of 
gold was suddenly largely increased, and, with its aid, 
the world at large became bigger and better for it. New 
industries sprang into being and old ones were revived, 

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not in our country alone, but everywhere throughout the 
civihzed world. But far above the value of the glittering 
gold was the new empire that the Pioneer developed for 
his country, large enough and fertile enough to support, 
not only in comfort but in luxury, a population far greater 
than what then was in the entire Nation. 

And the march of the Pioneers began. While many 
came from South America, the Islands of the Pacific, and 
from the Orient, by far the greater portion of the number 
who started for California in 1 848 and 1 849 were from 
the eastern states of our own country. True Americans 
all of them, schooled in liberty, taught the rights and the 
principles of freedom, educated in the belief that "all men 
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator 
with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 

When our forefathers left their homes in the eastern 
states to come to this then distant land, they brought 
with them a physical endowment far above the average. 
The flower of the youth of our country were they. Nat- 
urally, and in keeping with the old adage, in such sound 
bodies were sound minds. With a full realization of the 
dangers of the march across the continent and of the 
voyage around the Horn, they brought with them a 
courage that could not be weakened, a determination 
that was not to be denied. Added to these endowments 
of a perfect physique and a clean and wholesome mind, 
they brought with them a knowledge of the principles of 
American freedom, of American government, and of 
American citizenship. 

And so it was that our Pioneers fitted into the new 
country and with one another so quickly, so easily, and 
as if to the manner born, that notwithstanding the re- 
markable fact that from the adoption of the Constitution in 
November, 1849, until the formal acceptance of Cali- 
fornia as a State on September 9, 1 850, California was 
without a government to enforce its laws, nevertheless 
this State enjoyed as much ease, as much happiness, 
and as much security for honest men and women as we 

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have ever enjoyed since our formal recognition as a State. 
Seldom, perhaps, has a more peculiar political situation 
developed than that which existed here in California 
during the period succeeding the adoption of the Con- 
stitution and before the admission of California as a State. 
Without any organic law to govern them, without 
knowing just exactly by what authority justice was 
administered, nevertheless order was maintained and the 
Pioneers went about their affairs just as though they were 
still citizens of the eastern states. Our Pioneers builded 
here a new community made up of men and women with 
real red blood, men and women who had little or no 
patience with crime and disorder, but nevertheless men 
and women whose predominating and characteristic 
trait in their relations with one another is best expressed 
in the old saying, "Live and let live." They, our fathers 
and mothers, lived in a land of toleration and they 
practiced toleration, perhaps, because they were not yet 
so far removed in point of time from their own ancestors 
who, in 1 776, went to war for the sake of that same 
principle, "Live and let live." 

And so they started here, some across the continent 
and others over the stormy seas and the rebellious waters 
of Cape Horn. An army of one hundred thousand they 
were, young and strong American citizens, each one 
of them nurtured in the cradle of American liberty. 
Down the sides of the Sierras they swarmed, gathering 
new strength with the satisfaction that at last they had 
reached the land of promise. In through the Golden 
Gate they sailed in a fleet of vessels so numerous that 
their masts transformed the placid waters of the bay into 
a forest. Up from the bay, and down from the mountain, 
the vanguard of the two Pioneer armies met where the 
plain joins the mountain, and the joyful acclaim of the 
one was hurled back, echo-like, by the exultant shouts 
of the other until they were all blended together in the 
one magic word, "Eureka." 

There have been pioneers and pioneering expeditions 
as long as the world has existed. Sad to relate, but 

[71 



nevertheless true, many of these pioneer expeditions were 
inspired only by the spirit of conquest. With such 
pioneers, victory meant despoliation and rapine to the 
unfortunate people in the unhappy land that might be 
touched by the blight of their invasion. "Like sw^arms of 
locusts they came, and devoured and disappeared, 
leaving no trace of their coming or their going but their 
own ravages." Or perhaps like moths, they were con- 
sumed by the fire of the civilization, whose light they 
might have darkened but whose fires they could not 
quench or destroy. 

But the Pioneer of 1 849 was animated by a wholly 
different motive. He came here to occupy this land, to 
civilize it, to improve it, and to make this an abiding 
place for himself and his descendants for all time. He 
came here in answer to the call of El Dorado. He 
came here to unlock the vaults, the doors of which were 
to swing open for him who held the combination. The 
combination was tireless energy, indomitable perseverance, 
and unshakable courage, and the Pioneer possessed 
all these. 

It IS hardly fair to the Pioneers to say that "They 
builded better than they knew." The archives of the 
Society of California Pioneers hold no more priceless 
evidence of the brain and the wisdom of the Pioneers, 
and especially of their leaders, than the orations of the 
men who from 1 853 commemorated this day in addresses 
delivered at the exercises commemorative of the time 
and the occasion. Pervaded by a lofty spirit, breathing 
a promise of a future to San Francisco and to California 
that perhaps to some at that time might have sounded 
like a tale from the "Arabian Nights" and the product 
of an exaggerated fancy, nevertheless today those same 
prophecies, when measured by the conditions that 
prevail today, when measured by the Society that has 
been builded up, by the city that has been rebuilt, the city 
that will rise again even though the forces of an otherwise 
kind nature might for a time prevail against her, when 

[81 



measured by the encouragement given to art, to music, to 
science, and to culture generally, when in fact measured 
coldly and calmly by the yardstick, or weighed in the 
tipping balance of a grocer's scales, those prophecies will 
be found each and all of them to have been fulfilled. 
The descendants of the Pioneers have not been found 
wanting. The Pioneer did not over-reach himself in his 
preparation for the days and the people and the conditions 
that were to follow from his beginnings. The pioneer 
of '49 knew just what he was building and it was with a 
firm, devout, aye, a religious belief in the absolute, 
unalterable, and unchangeable destiny of the land that 
he opened up and developed, that he proceeded with 
his work and was not swerved therefrom by fire or earth- 
quake, by plague, epidemic, or other disasters, or by 
difficulties that were unique and peculiar because of 
conditions then prevailing in a land far removed from 
the world s centers of civilization. 

The word "Pioneer" is of tender significance to us. 
Not only does it recall vividly the struggles, the hardships, 
the obstacles, and the successful overcoming of them that 
have endeared our Pioneers to us, but we are also re- 
minded that the Forty-niner, within less than one year 
after his coming, founded here a political organization so 
completely endowed with all of the qualifications neces- 
sary for admission to Statehood that Congress could not 
well deny California's claims. True, the final act of 
admission was delayed until September 9, 1850, a 
period of about ten months from the time that California 
first knocked at the door of the Nation for admission into 
the Sisterhood of States, but the fact remains that she 
was admitted just as she had presented herself, after only 
about ten months of preliminary training and develop- 
ment. 

The Pioneers of California are in a great measure the 
pioneers of the Nation, for directly and indirectly they 
opened up the entire Pacific Coast, West of the Rocky 
Mountains. With the advent of the California pioneer 

(9] 



in 1849, began the development of the vast empire of 
the w^hole Pacific Coast, which gave to the Nation 
an added wealth of gold and other precious metals, of 
timber, and other natural resources, in figures so immense 
that the human mind cannot appreciate their magnitude. 

The early setders of the eastern states had indeed 
tremendous obstacles to overcome. Hostile savage tribes 
had to be met and conquered, a vast wilderness had to be 
cleared, and the forms of government and of society 
adopted and order compelled. 

All these things, also, the Pioneers of California were 
confronted with, and while the pioneers of Colonial times 
did their work and did it well, — and all honor, credit and 
glory to them for the doing of it,- nevertheless we, the 
descendants and the successors of the Pioneers of '49, 
may with equal pride point to the energy, the bravery, 
the courage, the perseverance, the intellect and the 
wisdom of our own California Pioneers as a fitting 
counterpart to the best that we may find in song or in 
story of Colonial times. 

The pioneer of California came, saw, and conquered, 
but he conquered not with the arms of war but by the arts 
of peace. He came here not to subdue or plunder a great 
empire, but to found a new one. We Californians, 
animated by pride of State, are pleased to call this State 
of ours the most priceless jewel in the crown of the nation, 
h must be remembered that when our California Pioneer 
came here, he found that jewel a diamond in the rough, 
and it was he who, with incomparable artistry, gave 
polish and brilliancy to the finished jewel that we now 
are so proud of. It was he who, with reverend hands, 
placed it in the diadem of the nation where, among all 
the brillant jewels, it shines out in splendor and effulgent 
glory. 

Nearly fifty years ago today, the then orator of the day 
stated that, "With all due deference to the general intelli- 
gence of our eastern countrymen, and of our law makers in 
the halls of Congress, we may be permitted to say that 



they fail to comprehend the greatness of the land in 
which they live. ' The burden of his complaint was, 
that the people of the eastern states at that time, who 
had never been to California, had no conception of the 
immensity of the empire between the Rocky Mountains 
and the Pacific Coast, no conception of its vast and varied 
resources, no conception of the possibilities it offered of a 
rich and profitable trade with the countries of the Orient. 

A great many of us Californians today think just as the 
eloquent speaker did of fifty years ago today, and while 
we give second place to none in our loyalty to the esti- 
mable man and his advisers now controlling the policies 
of this Nation, and while we fervendy hope that finally 
and not long in the future the situation will right itself, 
nevertheless it is with feelings of deep regret for the 
present, and of fear and trepidation for the future, that we 
see the fleet of vessels flying the American flag that has 
for years been the pride of every San Franciscan, swept 
from the ocean that connects our shores with those of the 
Orient. It is indeed with feelings of sorrow and sadness 
that we will shordy see the last of the vessels of this 
fleet leave the beautiful bay, upon the shores of which 
we are now standing, and for the last time wave over 
the waters of the Golden Gate the flag of the Nation we 
all worship and adore. 

Who, of the old Californians, has forgotten "Steamer 
Day?" 

We are reminded by it of the steamers that, before the 
completion of the transcontinental railroad line, sailed 
out of this harbor, carrying from us the treasures of the 
mine and the products of the soil. 

We are reminded that twice a month, on "Steamer 
Day," we had a financial house cleaning. 

We are reminded of the scenes of activity and of excite- 
ment, surrounding the incoming and out-going of this 
fleet of vessels. 

"Steamer Day," and all the things that went with it, 
meant much to San Francisco and to California in those 
days. The ocean highway was for California, for many 



years, practically the only means of transporting her 
wealth to the world outside. And we Californians still 
feel that transportation by wcitcr should today engage 
the solicitous care and attention of our rulers just as much 
as transportation by rati. We believe that the one can 
and should be made just as beneficial to this City and this 
State as the other. 

For years the greatest boon that we, of California, 
have hoped from the completion of the Panama Canal, 
has been a return to the halcyon days of American ship- 
ping, before the coming of the railroad. It certainly has 
been a bitter disappointment to us that notwithstanding 
the completion of the Canal, the enactment of recent 
shipping legislation has resulted in a blasting rather than 
a fruition of those hopes. 

May it be that this situation is only temporary, soon to 
be relieved, if not through the wisdom of our rulers, then 
by the kindly intervention of Providence. 

It is true that we Native Sons take a boundless pride in 
our State. Sometimes, as we must admit, in voicing that 
pride we may be guilty of boasting. But never can we, 
nor do we, separate our pride in our State from our love 
of all the states. 

When our minds, fired by love of State, conjure up 
for her virtues that perhaps may not be equally appre- 
ciated by those from without, when we behold our 
beloved California the goal, the end, the consummation 
of the march that for centuries upon centuries has been 
ceaselessly in progress, in obedience to the dominant 
idea that "Westward the course of empire takes its way," 
we are not forgetful that back of us are our compatriots 
who have remained behind to complete the work that 
the Pioneers laid out for them, and we rejoice that as 
the last forward march of the course of empire met the 
waters that mark the western limits of man's abiding 
place, the recurrent wave of prosperity that swept over 
our own beloved State also deposited its beneficent 
waters upon the other states of the Nation. 



12 



We, the descendants of the Pioneers, native sons of 
CaHfornia, love our Nation just as much as we do our 
State, and if at times we must submit to the will of a 
majority that we, in California, think has been misguided 
because of a lack of true knowledge of the claims of the 
West, we nevertheless do so willingly and patriotically. 
But we must set ourselves about the task of educating 
our fellow citizens of the East in what California is, 
what she has done, and may do, and what she means to 
the Nation. It was in such a spirit as that that this great 
Exposition was conceived by us. It was not that we 
expected any profit in an immediate material sense from 
the management of the Exposition, but we did and do 
hope that by attracting to our City and State many 
thousands of our fellow citizens from the different states 
of the Union, we can make them feel, first that they are 
part and parcel of us, and we of them, and to that end 
we have extended ourselves in fulfilling to them the 
duties of hospitality. It was next our hope that coming 
into close personal contact and touch with us, they 
would with their own eyes see the things that they had 
merely read about, and with their own ears while within 
our State and City, hear the things that we were asking 
from the Nation; and thus, guided by their own personal 
experience, and moved by a spirit of fairness, grant to us, 
their western brethren, such consideration as in common 
justice, and as members of one great family, we are 
entitled to. We have nothing to conceal from the eyes 
of the most persistent investigator. Indeed, if anything, 
we have been perhaps over-zealous in exposing our 
failings rather than in concealing them. We have no 
apology to make for California. We have nothing to 
lose and much to gain by having the people of our country 
know us better. Their knowledge of us will prove our 
strength. As our country knows us better, we are 
confident that, if anything, our country will love us the 
more. 

We have left with us today only a few white-haired 
old men to hear the eventful story of their contemporaries, 

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a story, however, that merely touches here and there 
some of the things that they, and the men who came with 
them to these shores over sixty-six years ago, accom- 
pHshed not only for themselves, their city, and their State, 
but for their Nation, aye, even for the world. These 
reverend old men, the original Pioneers of California, 
have long since passed the stone that marked for them the 
summit of the roadway of life. For many years the sun 
of their lives has been sinking in the West that they and 
their fellow pioneers opened up and developed for us all, 
and their shadows have been ever lengthening in the 
East, gentle reminders to our friends of the eastern states 
that the last of the young men who left them some sixty- 
six years ago and more are passing away from the land 
that they helped to give to them. But these old men 
will carry with them, even the last of them, the love, the 
reverence of a grateful posterity, a love, and reverence, 
that will grow in intensity as the shadows of the valley 
of death become for them darker and deeper. 

The dream of the Pioneer has been realized for these 
old men who still survive. A day-dream it was, too, for 
them and their contemporaries of sixty-six years ago. 
They did not underestimate the future and so did not 
underestimate the obligation that was upon them to 
prepare properly for that future. 

The city that we have today, the effort and the achieve- 
ment that have made her possible, and this World's 
Exposition that is even better than the brag, are all 
testimonials to the truth of the tribute paid to San Fran- 
cisco by the then President of our country, "San Francisco 
knows how." The pioneers of '49 knew how. They 
knew how to build, and they builded as they knew. 



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